ULTIMA THULE

Jan. 2, 2019

With the New Horizons space probe's flyby on 1 January 2019, Ultima Thule became the farthest object in the Solar System visited by a spacecraft.

About:

Location: Ultima Thule is a trans-Neptunian object located in the Kuiper belt.
Features of the object:
- It is a contact binary 31 km long, composed of two joined bodies 19 km and 14 km across that are nicknamed "Ultima" and "Thule", respectively.
- With an orbital period of 298 years and a low inclination and eccentricity, it is classified as a classical Kuiper belt object.
- It is believed to be the most primitive object in the Solar System, both bodies being planetesimal aggregates of much smaller building blocks.
- Ultima Thule is a relic from the early days of the solar system and studying it could provide answers about the origins of other planets.
Nomenclature:
- Its scientific name is (486958) 2014 MU69.
- It is nickname, Ultima Thule (a Greco-Latin term for a place beyond the known world) was chosen as part of a public competition in 2018.
- The New Horizons team plans to submit a proper name to the International Astronomical Union when the nature of the object is better known.
Discovery:
- It was discovered in 2014 by astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope as part of a search for a Kuiper belt object for the New Horizons mission
- With the New Horizons space probe's flyby on 1 January 2019, 2014 MU69 became the farthest object in the Solar System visited by a spacecraft.